Bank of Japan policymakers view further monetary easing to shore up inflation as a counterproductive step at present, amid concern it could trigger declines in the yen that damage confidence, sources said. The yen strengthened after the remarks, which indicate a possible shift in ...

Core machinery orders jumped 8.3 percent to ¥853.6 billion in December, the government said Thursday, suggesting companies suddenly became eager to boost investment. The orders are viewed as a leading indicator of capital spending. Compared with the previous month, private-sector orders, excluding those in ...

For Tokyo-based condiments maker Kagome, and perhaps for the government, the challenge of breaking with a decade and a half of deflation boils down to the price of a bottle of ketchup. The country’s most popular ketchup brand is hiking prices for the first ...

Wholesale prices dropped 2.4 percent year on year in January, excluding the impact of last April’s consumption tax hike, to mark the fastest fall in four years as crude oil prices continued to fall, the Bank of Japan said Thursday. The corporate goods prices ...

French economist and author Thomas Piketty has received rock-star treatment in Japan while arguing that the Bank of Japan's ultra-loose monetary policies are ginning up stocks and real estate for the wealthy.

Kansai’s annual gathering of major corporate leaders opened Thursday in Kyoto with vows to accelerate economic recovery efforts, even as the chairman of the Kansai Economic Federation warned that spring electricity price hikes would exceed 10 percent. But Shosuke Mori, who also serves as ...

Increases in the cost of living outpaced annual earnings that rose for the first time in four years in 2014 as the Abe administration sought to reflate the economy. Average earnings climbed 0.8 percent last year while pay, adjusted for inflation, fell 2.5 percent, ...

After December’s landslide re-election, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s program to revive the nation’s economy is set to meet perhaps its stiffest challenge, the nation’s sclerotic farming industry. He will soon submit legislation to reform agriculture, a sector where a dwindling band of aging farmers ...

The annual labor-management wage negotiations are gathering steam as March approaches, amid growing worker expectations of pay-scale increases. Labor unions are taking a more aggressive stance this year against the backdrop of strong calls from the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for wage ...

Democratic Party of Japan leader Katsuya Okada and other senior members of the top opposition party held a meeting Friday with visiting French economist Thomas Piketty, known for his study on economic inequalities. DPJ policy chief Goshi Hosono told Piketty that Prime Minister Shinzo ...